Fleshihg-machine



S. HANDEL. FLESHING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED DEC. 27, 1918.

1,325,988. Patented Dec. 23,1919.

I 2 SHEETS-SHEET I N N I i N a EEC.

SENDER HANDEL, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

FLESI -IING-MACHINE.

T all U7L0i/L it may concern Be it known that I, Snnnnn HANDEL, a

citizen of the United States, residing at the a part thereof.

This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in that class of machines commonly known vas fleshing machines,,which are employed more especially to remove fleshy matter from, and reduce the thickness of, the pelt in the treatment of fursandskins for dressing.

.The objects of my present invention are .iJOyPl'OVlCle a machineof the class stated which isof simple,,durable,rigid, and inexpensive construction, and whose parts may be conveniently assembled and replaced or .renewed when necessitatedby wear, breakiage,'or the: like; to provide a machine of the class. stated which is capable of operation and. use with substantially a minimum of r knife-trouble and whoseknife is of a form and type adapted for convenient and repeated sharpening without replacement, the lifeofthe machine being consequently lengthened and its cost of maintenance reduced; to provide a machine of the class I 1 ,stated wherebyefliciently fleshy-matter may be removed from the pelt and the thickness safety to both the operator andthe skin or of the. pelt be reduced .or skived, as I. may say, with ,approximately a maximum of pelt from cutting or other injury, the dressingof the' skin ,or pelt being vconsequently facilitated and cheapened; and to improve generally upon, and simplify the construc- -tion of, machines of the class stated.

:With the above and other objects in view, my present invention resides in the novel features of form, construction, arrangement,

scribed-and afterward pointed out in the claims.

and. combination of parts hereinafter, cle- In the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a side'elevational view of a fleshing-machine embodying my invention, a portion of thebody-guard being broken away;

' Fig. 2 is a front elevational View of the machine and 3 is, Sectional view of; the machine Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Dec. 23, 1919 Application filed December 27, 1918.

Serial No. 268,462.

taken approximately on the plane of the shaft of its rotary knife.

Referring to the said drawings, in which like reference characters refer to like parts throughout the several views, the base of the machine may be in the form of a suitable plate 1 adapted for support upon a suitable stand or the like (not shown) at an elevation suitable to the work. In the drawings, I show heads 2, which may represent suitable fastening-means, such as screws, engaging the base or plate 1 for rigidly securing the machine in installed position.

Upstanding from the base 1, is a pair of spaced vertical standards S3, whose lower or foot-ends are preferably formed integral with the base and reinforced bysuitable brace-webs 4%), and whose upper ends are rigidly connected by a cross member or head 6 bolted or otherwise suitably fastened thereto.

Intermediate their ends, the standards 33 are formed with relatively alined, horizontally disposed, and internally threaded bores 77, in which are seated foradjustment screws 8 -8 whose inner endsare conical in shape, as shown, and upon which a spindle 9, formed at its ends with conicalbearings 10 to receive the conical ends of the screws 88, is mounted for rotation. Means, such as the pins 11, are provided for the convenient adjustment of the screws 8, and means, such as the jam or lock-nuts 12, are provided for locking the screws 8 in adjusted position.

The spindle 9 is preferably threaded, as at 13, to conveniently receive, as seen especially in Fig. 3, a rotary, disk-knife 14, a clamping-washer 15 disposed upon one side of the knife 14, a belt pulley-ring 16 disposed upon the other side of the clampingwasher 15, and end-clamps 17-17 for rigidly keying the knife 14 and pulley-ring 16 to, and against displacement upon, the spindle 9, each of the end-clamps 17 preferably including anon-circular hub 18 to facilitate their turning or adjustment upon the spindle 9 to effect such clamping upon the spindle of theknife 14-and belt-pulley 16. Seated in the clamp-hubs 18 to engage the spindle 9, are bolts or the like 19 for locking the end clamps 17 in ad usted knife-and-pulley clamping-position upon the spindle,

The knife or blade 14, constituting the cutting element of the machine, is in the form of a relatively heavy one-piece circular or disk-shape steel-plate and is provided adjacent its periphery on its one or left-side flat face with a continuous annular channel or groove 20, whose outer margin forms with the periphery of the disk a knife or cutting-edge 21, the disk at its periphery being preferably shaped to provide a plain bevel face. The original cutting-edge 21 so formed may hence be conveniently sharpened or whetted by the simple application of an abrasive to the revolving periphery of the disk; and when such original cuttingedge 21 has been substantially worn away, it will be evident that new and succeeding cutting-edges may be readily provided upon the blade or disk 14, until the blade or disk 14 is itself substantially worn away and without removal or displacement of the disk from the machine, by the simple and con venient application to the side and peripheral faces of the disk of suitable abrasive or cutting-tools or the like to reproduce new and succeeding channels or grooves 20 and cooperating peripheral disk-faces. The disk or blade 14 may itself be facilely replaced or renewed when required, and not only does my new cutting-element lend itself to repeated and convenient sharpening without replacement, but arising also from this novel, relatively heavy, unitary construction of the cutting element are the distinct advantages that, in this class of machines which are usually operated at high speeds, the danger incident to the throwing off of loosened parts is substantially wholly eliminated, the breakage of the cutting element,

both in use and in handling, is reduced approximately to a minimum, as obviously a knife or blade of my construction will withstand usage and strains which could not be withstood by the thinner, detachable, demountable, adjustable, and other varieties and types of knives now generally in use, the cuttingelement itself rotates with re duced vibration and hence affords greater efiiciency and accuracy in its work, and a structural economy is obtained, both in the use and assemblage of a single, self-supporting knife, and in the elimination of extraneous supports and braces.

The screw-bores 7 of the standards 3 project through bosses 22 on the standards, and mounted on the bosses 22 are suitable knife-guard supporting-brackets each including an inwardly-presented arm 23 and an elongated portion 24 projecting laterally from the arm 23 at its inner end and dis posed adjacent a flat face of the disk or blade 14, the bracket-portion 24 being lengthwise bowed or convexed, as seen best in Flg. 2, to receive smoothly thereupon. and cooperate with, the correspondingly bowed or convexed inner portion of a sub stantially segmental knife-guard proper25. The guards 25 are opposed to each other, being coinplementingly disposed on oppo site sides of the cutting-disk or knife 14, and combined present and afford a housing or guard of approximately lenticular section in which the knife or disk 14 revolves. Each guard-member 25 has an edge radius preferably somewhat greater than the radius of the knife-disk l4 and in use is so positioned relative to the rotary blade 14 as to expose only a portion of the periphery and cutting-edge of the blade at the work ing-point and to cover or overlie the pe .riphery and cutting-edge of the blade from and on each slde of the working point to points above and below the knife adjacent the standards 3, as illustrated in Fig. 1. And at the working-point, as seen in Figs. 1 and 3, the left-hand guard 25 projects at its outer margin preferably somewhat into the annular groove or channel 20, while the right-hand guard 25 smoothly meets at its outer margin the oblique or beveled periphery of the knife and provides, so to speak, a spaced extension thereof, whereby the flesher.or operator is enabled to efiiciently manipulate the skin or pelt across the rotating knife with a maximum of safety to both himself and. the skin or pelt being worked. Eachguard-member. 25 is provided with transversely disposed slots 26--26 adapted to adjustably accommodate securing or fastening bolts 27-27 mounted in the supporting-bracket, portions 24, whereby the guard-members 25 may be conveniently adjustedrelatively to the. knife 14 either for the purpose of regulating the depth of cut or compensating for variation or reduction in knife diameter due to wear andsharpening, any required relative axial adjustment of the cutting element and guards being conveniently accomplished by an axial movement of the cutting element by proper manipulation of the spindle-supporting screws 8. As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the guard supporting-brackets are adapted for securement upon the standard-bosses 22 by means of set or fastening-screws or the like 28.

To safely protect the body of the flesher or operator fromthe otherwise exposed portion of the rotary-knife 14 opposite the housing-guards 25, I provide a body-guard 29, which is substantially a sheet metal hood provided at its lower margin with a hinged-extension 30 adapted for fastening, as by the screws 2, to the machine-base or plate 1, and at its upper margin with projecting ears 31 adapted for connection to the standards 3 as by means of screws or the like 32, which latter function also to secure the head Gto the standards. The hood 29 not only afi'ords safety to the operator from the more or less rapidly rotating knife or cutting element of the machine, but also, by its described con struction, it may be conveniently swung to open position by a simple removal of the securing-screws 32, without disturbing the cutting-element, its bearings or guard, or the relation of the machine to its supporting stand and hence the source of driving power.

To facilitate the introduction of necessary lubricant for rotation between the screwbearings 8 and the spindle 9, the spindle 9 is preferably provided with suitable ducts 33; and it is to be understood that minor changes in the form, construction, arrangement, and combination of the several parts of my machine may be made and substituted for those herein shown and described without departing from the nature and principle of my invention.

Having thus described my invention,

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A fieshing machine including a rotary knife of flat disk shape formed of a single piece of plate steel, the disk having in one side facea rounded groove extending annularly of the disk next its periphery, the outer wall of the groove forming with the peripheral portion of the disk the cuttingedge of the knife.

2. A fleshing machine includin a rotary knife of disk shape formedof a single piece of relatively thick plate steel, the disk having a periphery beveled inwardly relatively to one side face and provided in its opposite side face and next its periphery with an annular rounded groove, the outer wall of the groove forming with the periphery 40 of the disk a cutting edge.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

SENDER HANDEL. 

